Shoppers get e-satisfaction from luxury retailers

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Luxury shoppers are more likely to use mobile channels when shopping but are slightly less satisfied with e-commerce overall, according to the Luxury E-Retail Satisfaction Index released by customer experience analytics firm ForeSee. Luxury brands have an aggregate score of 77 on the study's 100-point scale, falling just short of the average score of the top 100 online retailers overall (78).

Coach and Tiffany & Co. lead the Index, tied with 80, which is generally considered the threshold for excellence. Saks and Nordstrom tie for second at 79, still well above the Luxury Index aggregate of 77. Brooks Brothers (76) is at the bottom of the measured luxury brands, but still close to the aggregate.

Subscription and flash sale sites Rue La La (73) and Gilt (72) round out the bottom of the Index, due to the registration or subscriptions required to see the content of the site. Non-luxury retailer Amazon registered a score of 88 in a similar study, meaning even the best luxury sites are still not measuring up to the very best online experiences. Since almost everyone shops at Amazon, customer expectations are being set at a level not yet achieved by any of these luxury e-retailers.

"Luxury retailers have some catching up to do with mainstream retailers in terms of measuring the customer experience across all channels and using that data and analysis to impact strategic, tactical, and operational decision making at the highest level," said Larry Freed , author of the study and president and CEO of ForeSee. "While there are a few exceptions, the customer experience is still playing a very tactical role in many of these companies, and there is an opportunity for these analytics to be valuable and actionable at so many levels."

According to the survey, more luxury brand shoppers (36%) are using mobile than non-luxury brand shoppers (25%) to research products, compare products or prices, purchase product, or use a company's mobile app.

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